Judges in Ga. grapple with immigration backlog

ATLANTA - The federal government hired two additional judges and is planning to appoint two more to help clear a massive backlog of deportation cases in Georgia's immigration courts.

Judge Dan Trimble began hearing cases at the Stewart Detention Center in November and Judge Saundra Arrington took the bench there in October.

But the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports some court observers are concerned the new hires wouldn't put much of a dent in a backlog that reached 6,601 cases on Sept. 20. The caseload is so big that judges in Georgia are now scheduling hearings for cases into 2013.

Immigration attorneys say the government is seeking a third judge to hear cases in Lumpkin, and one more judge is in the pipeline to fill a vacancy in the downtown Atlanta court.